KATHMANDU: The rival faction of Nepal’s ruling CPN-UML has rejected beleaguered Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli’s offer to revive the party’s committees prior to its merger with CPN-MC led by Pushpa Kamal Dahal ‘Prachanda’, questioning the premier’s intentions to keep the party united.
The rival faction led by veteran leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanth Khanal said that the six-point proposal put forth by Oli, who is also the chairman of the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist), harboured an ill-intention to divide their faction and further delay their attempt to take forward the ‘communist movement’ in a new manner, according to a report in myRepublica.com.
“Instead of keeping (party committees) that existed on May 16, 2018, it has been said that they will be in line with his factional interest.
This kind of proposal does not seem to have come with an intention to keep the party unity intact.
This is simply unacceptable,” the Nepal-Khanal faction has said in a statement on Monday.
The two parties, CPN-UML, and the CPN-Maoist Centre, had merged in May 2018 to form a unified Nepal Communist Party following the victory of their alliance in the 2017 general elections.
The Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist–Leninist (CPN-UML) was revived after the Supreme Court in March invalidated the Nepal Communist Party born out of the merger of the two parties.
The Nepal-Khanal faction which had sided with Prachanda’s CPN-MC after Prime Minister Oli’s decision to dissolve the House of Representatives in December, seeking his resignation, had to return to the CPN-UML fold.
Beduram Bhusal, a leader of the faction, said the prime minister did not clearly state that party committees and structures that existed before the CPN-UML’s merger with the CPN-Maoist Centre would be revived, The Himalayan Times reported.
“He has used the word ‘mostly’ implying that he is not committed to reviving all the committees and structures that existed before the UML’s merger with the CPN-MC,” he added.
Oli on Sunday had expressed his commitment to revive all-party committees that existed before the unification between the UML and CPN (Maoist Center).
This was one of the key demands put forth by the Nepal-led faction to keep the unity of the party intact.
Oli, however, has set a condition for lawmakers to withdraw signatures from the writ petition filed in the Supreme Court to reinstate dissolved House of Representatives, myRepublica report said.
The Nepal-Khanal faction rejected the proposal, saying that Oli’s statement nowhere shows his commitment to run the party as per the provisions of the party’s statute and rules.
The faction also decided to expedite formation of parallel party committees all across the country in a bid to form a new party, the report said.
Bhusal said that the faction leaders who had signed the petition challenging the dissolution of the House of Representatives would not withdraw their signatures as the move was aimed at protecting the constitution and democracy.
As many as 30 writ petitions, including by the Opposition alliance, have been filed in the Supreme Court against the dissolution of the House, the hearing for which has been postponed for Wednesday.
President Bhandari dissolved the House of Representatives on May 22 for the second time in five months and announced snap elections on November 12 and November 19 on the advice of Prime Minister Oli, who is heading a minority government after losing a trust vote in the House.
Bhusal said the prime minister only said that from now on he would not take action against any leader who dissented against him, but he did not say anything in his appeal about the leaders whom he expelled from the party or against whom he had taken disciplinary action, according to The Himalayan Times report.
In another development, CPN-MC Chairperson Prachanda on Tuesday met Nepal to know whether UML leaders would withdraw signatures from the writ petition challenging the dissolution of the House as proposed by Oli.
CPN-MC Spokesperson Narayan Kaji Shrestha said Nepal assured Prachanda that UML leaders would not withdraw their signatures, the report said.
Nepal plunged into a political crisis on December 20 last year after President Bhandari dissolved the House and announced fresh elections on April 30 and May 10 at the recommendation of Prime Minister Oli, amidst a tussle for power within the ruling Nepal Communist Party (NCP).
In February, the apex court reinstated the dissolved House of Representatives, in a setback to embattled Prime Minister Oli who was preparing for snap polls.
Oli repeatedly defended his move to dissolve the House of Representatives, saying some leaders of his party were attempting to form a “parallel government”.